The eighth reason to go or remain private is to avoid the increased scandal scale associated with being public.
In a recent opinion piece, entitled "Regulation, Yes. Strangulation, No," for the Wall Street Journal, Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg, former Chairman of AIG, wrote:
In today's environment, the mere threat of an embarrassing lawsuit or the public release of potentially damaging charges -- regardless of veracity -- can throw management off its game for months, even years. As a result, CEOs of public corporations are losing their appetite for risk.
To this challenge, I would add the increased risk of a scandal resulting from a failure to comply with increasingly strident regulations.
Hence, firms wishing to handle problems in private and to avoid having their names printed in the media associated with scandal, should consider strategies that allow them to get or remain private.
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